Thyroid Cancer Survival Rate

When a person starts developing an abnormal tumor in the thyroid gland, it can be an indication of thyroid cancer. Such tumor needs to be get examined by a proficient doctor who can verify its presence and opt for appropriate treatment to remove it. Thyroid cancer survival rate for a patient depends on the stage when the cancer was diagnosed. Early stage diagnosis has good survival rate as the cancerous cells are not spread at distant organs and can be entirely removed by opting a surgical treatment.

In order to know your chances of getting thyroid cancer, make sure to understand the risk factors allied with it. There are a few factors that enhance one's possibilities of developing cancer of the thyroid gland.

Age: Above 50 years

Gender: Women are more prone to this disease than men

Family history: People with family history of thyroid cancer have greater chances of developing it.

If you have any one of this risk factor, make sure to consult a doctor and know your chances of getting this disease.

Survival Rate of Thyroid Cancer

Thyroid cancer survival rate indicates the percentage of thyroid cancer patients who survived from this disease for particular time duration after thyroid cancer diagnosis. A combined survival rate for people with same medical condition can be used to identify the statistics for five year survival rate. The five year survival rate represents the percentage of patients who survived for five years after the diagnosis of thyroid cancer, whether they showed no or few symptoms or signs of thyroid cancer, or receiving medications and treatment for thyroid cancer or are free of disease.

These survival rates are calculated on the basis on large groups of individuals or patients and they cannot be used to predict the future condition of a particular patient. Since, no two patients have exactly same condition, thyroid cancer cure and responses to them varies greatly for each patient.

It is observed that the survival rate for the people below 40 years of age and whose cancer has not spread beyond the thyroid gland is better.

Survival Rate by Considering Thyroid Cancer Type

In general, survival rate is used by the doctors as a standard method to evaluate the prognosis of a patient. Some people with thyroid cancer want to know the statistics of survival for the patients with same type of thyroid cancer, while others may not want to know or may not find the numbers too useful. In the case of thyroid cancer, many people stay alive for more than five years after diagnosis and cure. In order to evaluate the five year survival rate, a physician has to make research on people who were under observation for at least five years ago. Development in treatment options have enhanced the outlook of the people who are diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

The type of thyroid cancer is decided by the location of the tumor and the treatment or surgery option depends on the type of the thyroid cancer. There are few factors such as general health and age of the patient that affects the outlook of the cancer patient. The treatment option that a doctor may opt for by considering your medical condition decides the survival rate for a particular patient.

Survival Rate by Considering Thyroid Cancer Stage

Thyroid cancer stage is the key factor while taking the outlook of a patient.

Around 58 percent of thyroid cancer cases are detected when the cancer is localized (it is limited to the primary site). At this stage, the five year survival rate for the patient is nearly 99.5 percent.

About 35 percent of cases are detected when the cancer cells get spread into the nearby lymph nodes or slightly beyond the primary location (regional). At this stage, the survival statistics is about 96.4 percent.

Nearly 5 percent of cases are detected when the cancer cells get metastasized (spread at large distant). In such case, the survival rate for the patient becomes nearly 60.0 percent.

About 2 percent of this cancer cases are diagnosed at unknown stages. In such upstaged cases, the five year survival for the patients with thyroid cancer is about 85 percent.

So, in all it can be said that thyroid cancer survival rate is basically calculated by considering a group of people with same type of thyroid cancer. This helps to know the outlook as well as the possibilities of patient to survive after the thyroid cancer diagnosis.